Is it just me, or is making a pie sorta like going to jury duty?
Don’t get me wrong… I sometimes (no.. not always) like throwing together a pie. I also sometimes like trucking my rear downtown for jury duty…. that’s after kicking and screaming in the weeks prior to said dutying.
The process of going to jury makes me feel super adult. What? You want me to sit in this crowded room with a bunch of angry people missing work, and you want me to possibly make decisions Law and Order style? Ok. I’ll play your game justice system. I’m a tax paying adult… thanks for the recognition.
The process of making a pie also makes me feel all adult like. Something about tacking a many layered recipe and busting out my pie plate tells me that yes… you’ve got bills to pay, but why not take a minute… ok, an hour… and show to world who’s in charge by making a pie? Orange and Cream… done and done.
Because the temps are still absolutely blazing here in Southern California, I thought a no-bake pie was in order. One problem though… crust! This graham cracker crust is baked for a quick 10 minutes before the filling is poured into it, making this No-Bake Orange and Cream Pie a little bit of a lie.
The filling for this pie is easily thrown together on the stove top. Bonus! You can make this with either fresh orange juice and zest, or lemon juice and zest. Also, feel free to skip the whipped cream on top if you like. The pie will be just a lovely without it. My only problem was that the crust was a tad bit crumbly… but really, that’s wasn’t a huge problem for me. I could have easily eaten this pie directly out of the pie plate with a jumbo spoon.
No-Bake Orange and Cream Pie
For the crust:
1 2/3 cup crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup sugar
dash of ground cinnamon
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons melted butter
Mix together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon and melted butter until evenly moistened. Press into a 9-inch pie plate and bake at 350 degrees F for 10-13 minutes, until lightly golden. Cool before filling.
For the filling:
3 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sour cream
1 Tablespoon orange zest
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
3 large egg yolks
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream (for the whipped cream top)
Combine the sugar, cornstarch, orange juice, zest yolks and milk in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat. Cook until thick, stirring constantly.
Add butter and stir until melted. Cool the mixture for 15 minutes, then add the sour cream. Stir to incorporate. Pour into cool pie crust and chill for 3 hours. I left my pie unwrapped in the fridge because I love a skin to form on top of the pie. Cover your pie loosely if you’d like. Whip up the cream, adding a few tablespoons of powdered sugar if you’d like, then spoon on top of the orange filling.
Alyssa
Just made this pie for my husband’s birthday. Great combination of flavors! We don’t have an oven, so i just did crumbs and butter as is. It has a storebought/not so crunchy texture but totally still doable and tasty.
russell
I do this with a shortbread crust. Amazingly delicious
coffeeaddict
Another great option for this pie, though the name should then read: almost no bake pie is to use the egg whites and make meringue! It’s yummy and I always hate recipes that leave me wondering what the heck to do with all those egg whites.
Aurora
Joy, I’m pretty sure you know by know that I’m totes obsessed with you….er, your recipes. Of course.
So, I made this and it was amazing. Probably the best cream pie I have ever had. Ever. I thought they were so gross before. My goal is to try and always follow the recipe as close as I can, but I made really subtle changes to this to make it a little healthier. I used fat free sour cream, 1% milk, and only 4 TB of butter in the crust. Next time, I would use 2 TB of butter in the filling— tis so good, and fluffy and so possible to eat the only thing in about 24 hours- we totally did it.
Barbara
I made this pie for dessert and loved the flavor. The real whipping cream with a little powdered sugar added set off the citrus in the pie. The only problem was getting the pieces out of the pie pan. It did not come out in clean slices and had to be disguised with large dollops of whipping cream.